Irv Gotti/Funk Flex interview from last yr; 1 topic: Illmatic vs. Reasonable Doubt

[spliz]

I feel you but RD took off sales wise with more accessible songs..aint no nikka being on nutty proffesor soundtrack(i remember it being on bet all the damn time) plus mary j on the next single..

Facts. I basically just said this same thing. Lol

 

[kingofnyc]

For one. The game was type different in 94 vs 96. Also. Nas' Illmatic got bootlegged HEAVY. Jay had Biggie in his video and on his album. Had AZ in his shyt. And this is after the artists was poppin. Had a pop sounding ass single. And still didnt sell records like that. On top of that. We talkin about Hip Hop impact as far as lyrics, thematics and the way the shyt was put together. It's a reason Biggie didnt think he would win that lyricist of the year Source award over Nas.

all albums were heavily bootlegged especially in nyc
but that really isn't a excuse
forget about biggie cause we all know he had a formula with commercial / ladies tracks to sell his album

but let take another hip hop artist from that same era with similar styles


Wu Tang 36 chambers drop’d in late ‘93 and went gold in 3 or 4 months thereafter going plat a lil over a year from being released
there shyt was heavily bootlegged too - the only differences between all these album back then was illmatic recieved a 5 mic classic from the source, which maybe the reason its held in so much high regard

 

[spliz]

all albums were heavily bootlegged especially in nyc
but that really isn't a excuse
forget about biggie cause we all know he had a formula with commercial / ladies tracks to sell his album

but let take another hip hop artist from that same era with similar styles


Wu Tang 36 chambers drop’d in late ‘93 and went gold in 3 or 4 months thereafter going plat a lil over a year from being released
there shyt was heavily bootlegged too - the only differences between all these album back then was illmatic recieved a 5 mic classic from the source, which maybe the reason its held in so much high regard

No. Son. They said the shyt was bootlegged so bad they found garages full of that shyt. And it didnt help that Nas was fukkin giving the shyt out for free himself. Alotta people had the album before it officially released. Then these same "purists" didnt go out and cop the album when it counted. Which is why Nas just said fukk em and did his own thing. And been doin it since.

 

[kingofnyc]

I feel you but RD took off sales wise with more accessible songs..aint no nikka being on nutty proffesor soundtrack(i remember it being on bet all the damn time) plus mary j on the next single..

true
jay took biggie formula and ran with it
and ironically nas did the same as well in ‘96 with IWW

which should answer most people question (if illmatic changed the game & was so impactful : why would nas switch his style up & not stick / stay with another illmatic for his sophmore LP)

 

[spliz]

which should answer most people question (if illmatic changed the game & was so impactful : why would nas switch his style up & not stick / stay with another illmatic for his sophmore LP)

I answered this question a post back.

 

[hex]

lemme say this disclaimer 1st - to avoid nikkaz from twisting up my statement

illamatic >>> RD (but not by that much - IMO)

with that said
although its an all time top 5 album, illamatic gets a lil bit too much credit

men lie
women lie
numbers don't

RD - was way more successful & received than illmatic
it dropped in mid ‘96 and wihtin a few months it produced a gold single & the album was gold thereafter going plat 6 years later

while
illamatic - had released 4 singles; none of them sold much & the album dropped in early ‘94 and went gold 2 years later in ‘96 thereafter going plat 7 years later



its just too hard to believe an album can recieve this much credit when hardly anybody copped it

There's no way to know when these albums went gold/plat because that's when it was certified, not when it shipped that amount. The RIAA audit doesn't even start until the label or artist pays for it.

So that's a moot point either way. I don't know what was going on anywhere else in America....I'm from the midwest, 30th and Charlotte in Kansas City, Missouri. I was 20 in 1996 and in the hood....like I said nobody really cared about Jay, at all.

Fred.

 

[No Homo]

true
jay took biggie formula and ran with it
and ironically nas did the same as well in ‘96 with IWW

which should answer most people question (if illmatic changed the game & was so impactful : why would nas switch his style up & not stick / stay with another illmatic for his sophmore LP)

You're skipping 95..him running with AZ and getting into the mafioso thing(mo money mo murder for example) which goes into it was written..

 

[spliz]

You're skipping 95..him running with AZ and getting into the mafioso thing(mo money mo murder for example) which goes into it was written..

Not just with AZ. He spit Escobar shyt on Mobb Deep's Infamous. Fast Life wit Kool G Rap. Verbal Intercourse on Only Built For Cuban Linx. Got praised for ALL that shyt. Dropped It Was Written and people act like the shyt came out of nowhere. Lmao. It was the most retarded shyt of all time.

 

[wingstop]

RD has aged a lot better than illmatic

Most of illmatic sounds

 

[No Homo]

Not just with AZ. He spit Escobar shyt on Mobb Deep's Infamous. Fast Life wit Kool G Rap. Verbal Intercourse on Only Built For Cuban Linx. Got praised for ALL that shyt. Dropped It Was Written and people act like the shyt came out of nowhere. Lmao. It was the most retarded shyt of all time.

Yup...That always had me and my boy like

You could always see it kind of coming.

And sidenote flex is a fool for trying to down play wu that time.

 

[I love Latina women]

30mins in & this is pretty good

Irv a fool man
His facial expressions be having me rolling

This. I know Jay stans are about to lose their minds but nobody in my peer group gave a fukk about "RD" in 1996. I'm just being real. One friend of my copped the album....I browsed it, liked a couple songs....then went on with listening to everything else that was out at the time.

The fact that people compare the two albums is puzzling as fukk. I mean....I get it, because of the Nas/Jay rivalry....but the albums were never on the same level in real time.

Fred.

Man, u 1 of my favorite posters @hex
U always keep it 100 and tell it like it is and how it was!

Co sign 100% on the bolded

its hard to compare - cause like irv said those albums were 2 years apart

IWW & RD came out at the same time
and im kinda shocked at flex response


flex alwayz been my nikka - but he kinda sneek diss R2D (i know flex didn't do much commercial / ladies songs onnhis show - so ‘juicy’ & ‘big poppa’ being the most played songs during the day on Hot wasn't getting spin on flex show at night - but i do remember him spinning joints like ‘unbelievable’ ‘give da loot’ & ‘warning’ more than any non single tracks off illamatic & RD

Yeah, the way he downplayed RTD was wrong.

For one. The game was type different in 94 vs 96. Also. Nas' Illmatic got bootlegged HEAVY. Jay had Biggie in his video and on his album. Had AZ in his shyt. And this is after the artists was poppin. Had a pop sounding ass single. And still didnt sell records like that. On top of that. We talkin about Hip Hop impact as far as lyrics, thematics and the way the shyt was put together. It's a reason Biggie didnt think he would win that lyricist of the year Source award over Nas.

Yup exactly!
Man, u and @hex always come w/ the facts!
Both of y'all are 2 of my favorite posters.

 

[kingofnyc]

There's no way to know when these albums went gold/plat because that's when it was certified, not when it shipped that amount. The RIAA audit doesn't even start until the label or artist pays for it.

So that's a moot point either way. I don't know what was going on anywhere else in America....I'm from the midwest, 30th and Charlotte in Kansas City, Missouri. I was 20 in 1996 and in the hood....like I said nobody really cared about Jay, at all.

Fred.

i wont get into the whole RIAA thing
i could never understand how people disregard an official organization

anyways, we about da same age
and i’ll tell u jay had alot of buzz in nyc (that aint no nikka - was a hot in them streets) and what topped it off was Hot 97 angie martinez show - her legendary segment ‘battle if the beat’ were daily 2 songs are played and by calls & faxes(lol) was declared the winner, and if a song wins 5 days inna row it goes down as champ/classic (dead pres was the 1st champ by a new artist)

 

[kingofnyc]

You're skipping 95..him running with AZ and getting into the mafioso thing(mo money mo murder for example) which goes into it was written..

biggie was on that mafioso shyt early
raekow & ghost went at biggie cause they felt they did it before BIG
nas wasnt even part of that convo back then

 

[hex]

i wont get into the whole RIAA thing
i could never understand how people disregard an official organization

anyways, we about da same age
and i’ll tell u jay had alot of buzz in nyc (that aint no nikka - was a hot in them streets) and what topped it off was Hot 97 angie martinez show - her legendary segment ‘battle if the beat’ were daily 2 songs are played and by calls & faxes(lol) was declared the winner, and if a song wins 5 days inna row it goes down as champ/classic (dead pres was the 1st champ by a new artist)

I don't doubt he had buzz in NYC but by 1996 hip-hop was a lot larger than NYC....so an NY artist being hot in NYC....I mean, it's expected.

EDIT:

As far as RIAA it's not about disregarding anything. I'm telling you point blank they don't track shipping in real time....gold/plat/whatever is based on what shipped, not sold....and the RIAA don't even start the audit to determine that until the artist or label pays for it.

So saying something "took 2 years to go plat" or whatever doesn't mean anything in the real world....it's possible the audit wasn't paid for until 2 years later. And it's additional money for each certification, so there's some albums that haven't had their certs updated. So there's no way to tell how much they shipped.

Fred.

 

[kingofnyc]

No. Son. They said the shyt was bootlegged so bad they found garages full of that shyt. And it didnt help that Nas was fukkin giving the shyt out for free himself. Alotta people had the album before it officially released. Then these same "purists" didnt go out and cop the album when it counted. Which is why Nas just said fukk em and did his own thing. And been doin it since.

it was common to give your album out
i had the lke 6-8 joint off R2D in the summer of ‘94 - biggie album drop’d 3 months later

and again them same hip hop purist went out and brought 36 chambers